This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cowan Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/DMQ.2ACIB/1094.1 Message Board Post: Mike, We sure would like to have a few more details on your family line. Do you have any idea where in Ireland they may have been? Do you know where in SC they were or what port they arrived when they immigrated? You might just help us identify some of the Cowan lines that we find in Mississippi and Gonzales, County Texas that we don't know how to place them. I have often wondered if this is something that we need to do since they name them all David, John, Andrew, Samuel, James, etc and they all married a woman named Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, Margaret, etc!!! Do you have them traced in the census from 1850 forward to 1930? I am guessing you know the line from immigration forward to you. DNA testing might also help. Did they change the spelling at any time - like with "e" or "i" - tell us more.